The word "mande?" (kind of like saying "huh?") always bugs me- it's muy Mexicano, but has roots in subservience. ("Mandar" is the root, "to order")

What I learned is it's similar to asking someone to direct you. "Tell me what you mean?" or "tell me what to do."

I prefer "como?" which is more universal, basically "what?"

\"Probably the airplanes will bring week-enders from Los Angeles before long, and the beautiful poor bedraggled old town will bloom with a
Floridian ugliness.\" (John Steinbeck, 1940, discussing the future of La Paz, BCS, Mexico)

Originally posted by Whale-ista
The word "mande?" (kind of like saying "huh?") always bugs me- it's muy Mexicano, but has roots in subservience. ("Mandar" is the root, "to order")

What I learned is it's similar to asking someone to direct you. "Tell me what you mean?" or "tell me what to do."

I prefer "como?" which is more universal, basically "what?"

I used the term, mande, while having a casual, bi-lingual discussion with a woman from Nicaragua, and she immediately chastised me severely for using
the "order me" term. I guess it's unique to Mexico.

Hmmm...I always say "bueno" when I answer the phone and caller ID is from MX. Is that no longer common?

I always imagined it's sort of like saying "well....you called- now what?"

\"Probably the airplanes will bring week-enders from Los Angeles before long, and the beautiful poor bedraggled old town will bloom with a
Floridian ugliness.\" (John Steinbeck, 1940, discussing the future of La Paz, BCS, Mexico)

You know what I don't like...when you ask for someone or someone asks for a person in your house, the standard now is, "Se encuentra Juan?" Literally
it means, are you finding Juan? And then if they aren't there, it's "No se encuentra" or "I don't find him" How ridiculoso!!

How about "que onda?" Is it still a common phrase, sort of a "what's up?" or "whats happening?" (literally: "what's the wave/frequency")

Used w/friends- very informal. Maybe out of date now...

Quote:

Originally posted by Paula
Bueno is correct and standard, Whale-ista. The one I love to hear, though I don't use it, is the hipper and trendier Que pasÃ³?

\"Probably the airplanes will bring week-enders from Los Angeles before long, and the beautiful poor bedraggled old town will bloom with a
Floridian ugliness.\" (John Steinbeck, 1940, discussing the future of La Paz, BCS, Mexico)

"If it were lush and rich, one could understand the pull, but it is fierce and hostile and sullen.
The stone mountains pile up to the sky and there is little fresh water. But we know we must go back
if we live, and we don't know why." - Steinbeck, Log from the Sea of Cortez

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"People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care." - Ivan R. Misner, Ph.D

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"You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who they think can do nothing for them or to them." - Malcolm Forbes

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"Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others
cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else's hands, but not you." - Jim Rohn

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